Why You Don't Need Original Ideas

We've all heard it before. You need to have original ideas! The best ideas are original! I want an original idea for a story, but I just don't know where to start!

Original ideas are hard to come by. They're, well, original. And when you're competing with seven billion other humans (plus the 101 billion who lived before you), coming up with an idea that no one else has come up with is well nigh impossible.

But here's the thing: the word 'original' is misleading.

There are a lot of books which one might consider original, but not many of them actually are. The Hunger Games is often lauded as being original, but it isn't really (read The Most Dangerous Game by Richard Connell from 1924 and you'll see what I mean). It's gripping, and it has fantastic worldbuilding, but it's not completely original.

So if originality is so hard to achieve, how are we supposed to make our writing unique?

Because you are unique.

It's not about the concept. It's not about the idea. It's about how you interpret the idea. You see, the ideas may not be completely original, but nobody can write The Hunger Games like Suzanne Collins can. Nobody can write Harry Potter like J.K. Rowling can. And nobody can write your stories like you can.

You don't need an original idea. You just need an idea that speaks to you. And then write it with your uniqueness.

You do you. Because nobody else can.

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